Most Of Us Get Financial Help From Our Parents

Can you afford life without help from Mom and Dad? If you need a boost from them to make the bills every month you're not alone. How much are they sending ya?

USA Today posted a survey from Merrill Lynch/Age Wave that said 70 percent of adults ages 18 to 34 got some sort of financial support from their parents within the last year. A lot of times it has to do with college tuition and bills, which are usually in the thousands of dollars, and odd jobs between classes never cover it. Even after college, it's tough with about sixty percent of millennials saying they couldn’t afford their lifestyles without the support from their parents.

The survey said too that a third of millennials get help with rent or mortgage payments from their parents each month.

When I first moved out on my own, my mom would write weekly letters to me, and she would usually stick $20 or $40 in there. I always looked forward to Thursdays, because a trip to the mailbox was likely to produce a handwritten note from Mom and some taco money for the weekend. Now she just emails me and I have to buy my own chalupas.

Whether it's twenty bucks or five hundred, money from Mom and Dad can be a huge blessing. And it feels better if it's a bonus and not the difference between eating and not eating. It might also make us feel a little guilty and frustrated, wanting to be fully independent and not being there just yet.

As a parent, does it freak you out a little thinking that maybe the kids that are in elementary school now might need even more monthly support once they're out of college? We've been buying them shoes and blankets and noodles for years, and there's no end in sight.

I felt like I was getting a big raise when I got my girls out of diapers a few years back, but apparently, there is a whole lot more spending to do. And I love 'em so much I'll be there when they need me, also secretly hoping that they become multi-millionaires.